Animal trap



April 18, 1939. s. COOPER 2,155,006

ANIMAL TRAP Filed April 4, 1958 2 Shets-Sheet l Sw/fozz 6'00]? er April18, 1939. s. COOPER 2,155,006

ANIMAL Tm Filed April 4 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 I] wen ion 'wzzam 600 6 erPatentecl Apr. 18, 1939 PATENT OFFICE ANIMAL TRAP Sutton Cooper,Evansville, Ind., assignor of onehalf to Edward A. Lorch, Evansville,Ind.

Application April 4, 1938, Serial No. 199,965

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a trap, the general object of the inventionbeing to provide a gravity closed door, a trigger for holding the dooropen, a platform adapted to be lowered by an animal attempting to reachthe bait, and a weighted rod connected to the trigger and to a cablewhich is connected to the platform and passes over a raised pulley, theparts being so constructed and arranged that the weighted rod will holdthe platform in raised position and the lowering of the patform willcause the rod to release the trigger, so that the door can drop toclosed position and thus trap the animal.

,Another object of the invention is to provide a member having a dooropening therein, closed by the door, with means whereby the member canbe easily removed from position covering an opening in one end of thetrap and put back in place.

The invention also consists in certain other features of construction,combination and arrangement of the several parts, to be hereinafterfully described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings andspecifically pointed out in the appended claims.

In describing the invention in detail reference A will be had to theaccompanying drawings wherein like characters denote like orcorresponding parts throughout the several views and in which:

Fig. l is a top plan view of the trap. Fig. 2 is a longitudinalsectional View thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the rear part ofthe trap showing the rear door open.

Fig. 4 is a section on line 44 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is a sectional viewthrough the weight and the rod.

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the front member which carries thegravity door.

Fig. 7 is a view of the platform.

In these drawings, the numeral I indicates the body of the trap, whichis preferably made in the form of a wire casing, with its rear endopened and adapted to be closed by a door 2, hinged at one side edge, asshown at 3, and 4 indicates a latch for holding the door closed. A baitholder 5, formed of wire, is carried by the inner face of the door. Aplatform forming plate 6 is hinged at its rear edge to the bottom of thetrap, as at l and a cable 8 is connected to the front edge of the plate.The cable passes over a pulley 9 at the top of the trap at approximatelythe center of the top and then through a ring l0. Said ring is of such asize that it cannot pass entirely through the opening formed by the wiremesh, through which a part of the ring passes, so that the ring isalways accessible at the top of the trap for pulling the cable upwardly.The cable is connected to the rear end of a rod H having a weight 12adjustably held thereon by friction.

A trigger plate 13 is swingingly supported from the top of the trap,adjacent its front end, by having a pair of limbs, formed at the top ofthe plate, bent over a wire of the top, as shown at [4 in Fig. 4. Thefront end of the rod II is pivoted to this plate, and said plate has'itslower end bent forwardly at an angle and this part is out and bent toprovide the lip [5, which extends upwardly and forwardly from said partas shown in Fig. 2.

An opening is formed in the front end of the body of the trap and isclosed by a substantially triangular shapehousing I6, the straight sideof which is open and extends into said front opening. The front of thehousing extends upwardly and outwardly and has a door opening therein,which leaves surrounding flanges ll, see Fig. 6. The top l8 has themajor portion thereof separated from the sides by the slots l9, so. thatthis part of the top is slightly resilient and can be bent downwardlyfor a purpose to be described. The front part of the top slopes downwardto the top flange II, as shown at 20. A gravity closed door 2| has itsupper edge supported on the hinge pin 22, having a handle part 22 at oneend thereof and the pin passes through the upper front part of thehousing, under the part 20, the door normally resting upon the innerfaces of the flanges 11, to close the front opening of the housing,under the action of gravity.

The top I8 is formed with the three upstanding ears Hi, the inner one ofwhich is offset from the outer ones and these ears will hook over a wireof the front end of the trap, as shown in Fig. 2 and the bottom of thehousing is formed with a rear hook l6 for hooking over a wire at thebottom of the front opening. Thus the housing is held in place by theears and hook l6 and by pressing downwardly the part [8, the ears l8 canbe released from the top wire and then the housing can be moved upwardlyand outwardly to move the hook Hi from the bottom wire, so as to removethe housing from the front end of the body. In replacing the housing thebottom hook is placed on the lower wire and then the housing movedtowards the body and the top I8 depressed to engage the ears with thetop wire.

When raised the lower end of the door 2| will rest on the sloping partof the trigger plate, with a part extending under the lip l5, as shownin Fig. 2, and the parts are so arranged that they will hold the door inraised position and the platform 6 partly raised, as shown in Fig. 2.

Thus an animal can enter the front door and as it walks to the rear ofthe trap to reach the bait in the holder 5, it will step on the platform6. The weight of the animal will cause the platform to swing downwardly,exerting a pull upon the cable 8, which swings the rod ll upwardly andrearwardly and this movement of the rod pulls the trigger plate awayfrom the door 2|, so that the door will drop to closed position and thusthe animal will be trapped.

The animal can be removed by opening the door 2 and by removing thehousing access can be had to the front of the trap and the partstherein. This housing can be removed when it is desired to adjust theweight on the rod; for instance, to reset the trap it is simplynecessary to lift the door 2| and pull upon the ring 10, which willraise the platform and the weighted rod and thus cause the trigger plateto engage the raised door 2 I.

A handle'23 is connected to the'top of the trap and by forming the bodyof wire mesh the different parts which are connected to the body can beeasily connected therewith by engaging some of the wires. The handle canbe formed of a U shaped wire having its ends bent over some of the topwires and a covering 23' may I, be placed over this wire part of thehandle, as

shown. I

It is thought from the foregoing description that the advantages andnovel features of the invention will be readily apparent.

It is to be understood that changes may be made in the construction,combination and arrangement of the several parts provided such changesfall within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

1. A trap of the class described, comprising a casing body formed ofwire mesh and having its rear end open and having an opening in itsfront,

.;a door closing .the rear opening, a bait holder connected with thedoor, .a housingprojecting from the front of the trap and having anupwardly and outwardly extending front provided with a door opening, adoor'hinged at its upper end to the front top portion of the housing andclosing the door opening by gravity, a trigger plate hinged to the topof-the body and having a' forwardly sloping lower end for supportingthem plate and extending rearwardly, a cable connected with the rear endof the rod, an upper pulley over which the cable passes, and a hingedplatform in the rear of the body to which the cable is connected, therod normally holding the platform in raised position with the triggerplate holding the gravity door raised, and said rod being adapted tomove the trigger plate to releasing position when pulled upon-bythecable being pulled by the lowering of the platform, under the weightof an animal.

2. A trap of the class described, comprising a body, a platform hingedto the bottom thereof, a cable connected with the platform, a pulley atthe top of the body and over which the cable passes, .a rod having itsrear end connected with the cable, an adjustable weight on the rod, atrigger plate hinged to the top of the body and a gravity closed doorfor closing the front of the body and 'held in open position by thetrigger body, a platform'hinged to the bottom-thereof, a cable connectedWith the platform, a pulley atthe top of the body and over which thecable passes, a rod having its rear end connected with the cable, anadjustable weight on'the rod, a trigger plate hinged to the top of thebody, a gravity closed door for closing the front of the body and heldin open position by the trigger plate, the trigger plate being moved toreleasing position by the rod when the cable is pulled upon by .ananimal stepping on the platform, and a ring connected with the cab-1e infront of the pulley and extending through the top .of the body, forresetting the parts.

4. In a trap of the class described, a body having an opening at itsfront end, a housing of substantially triangular shape and having itsstraight side open and extending upwardly and outwardly and having adoor opening therein,

the top of the housing being of spring construction and having hooks atits inner end for engaging the top wall of the first opening, a hook' atthe bottom of the housing for engaging the lower wall of said firstopening'for .detachably holding the housing in place, a door hinged atits upper and to the front top part of the housing and closing the dooropening by gravity, trigger means for holding the door open-and meansfor releasing the trigger meansby an animal in the trap.

SU'I'ION COOPER.

